Advertisement

Wednesday's letters: Charters and traditional public schools each have their place

 
Published June 20, 2018

Public school as public good | Letter, June 17

Both kinds of schools can work

As a mother and grandmother of children raised in both traditional public and charter schools in Pinellas County (and a 25-year supporting-services employee for public schools) I agree that "Charter schools aren't the enemy" (letter, June 14). I also agree with the argument "Public school as public good" (letter, June 17).

My own two kids got great educations in Pinellas schools. However, when the grandkids came, I'd had enough experience to know I did not want them in the oversized public middle schools where fighting and skipping school are common.

A local charter school had a marque advertising smaller classes, which we voted for, but never really got in our traditional public schools. My granddaughter got into the charter school for grades 4-8. Until she went to a traditional public high school in ninth grade, she had never seen a fight at school before. Her younger brother (on the autistic spectrum) is entering middle school at the same charter. He functions well in the mainstream, with fewer special services than he would be provided in traditional public schools, but with the advantage of more individual attention that a smaller student population affords.

I certainly agree with the writer of "Public school as public good" in principle. However, at the charter school I am familiar with, I have not seen evidence that "taxpayers … pick up the tab" for "extra special stuff."

Alda Thomas, Clearwater

A minimum-wage worker can't afford
a 2-bedroom apartment | June 17

Low-wage isn't homeless

A widely covered recent report by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition claims that "nowhere in the country" can a minimum-wage earner afford a two-bedroom apartment. This headline-grabbing conclusion raises an obvious question: Why isn't there a crisis of homelessness among minimum-wage earners?

For starters, Census Bureau data show that just one in 10 minimum-wage earners is a single parent with children. A majority of minimum-wage earners are second- or even third-earners already living at home with family or relatives. The coalition's minimum wage report asks the wrong question and arrives at a misleading conclusion. If policymakers use it as a baseline for entry-level wages, it would have the unintended consequence of closing off a career pathway for many less-experienced individuals getting started in the workforce.

Michael Saltsman, Washington, D.C.

The writer is managing director of the Employment Policies Institute.

We deserve good health care | Letter, June 19

Amen, to that letter

This letter writer made a spot-on observation of the thoughts of many of us of her generation!

P. Treadwell, St. Petersburg

Stop this inhumanity | Editorial, June 19

Invite the U.N. to oversee

No longer can the United States condemn North Korea for its human rights abuses. U.N. inspectors should come to the United States to see the human rights violations occurring at our own southern border.

Marilyn Beiser, Tampa